Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/571

1550.] it confess that he had offended. The council saw his weakness, and determined to trample on him. He was sent for on the iQth to the presence chamber. The articles were read over to him, and his signature demanded on the spot. He once more insisted that he should be tried. They said he should not be tried—he should submit unequivocally without further words. He was allowed three months to consider his answer; his bishopric, meanwhile, was pronounced sequestered; if at the end of that time he was still obstinate, he was to be deprived.

Remanding Gardiner to the Tower, they took the opportunity of inflicting a special wound on his supporter the Duke of Somerset. On the 18th of October, before Gardiner's answer was delivered, old Lady Seymour, Somerset's mother, died; and a State funeral would have been the natural and becoming privilege of the grandmother of the reigning sovereign. If she was buried privately, the Duke might have been accused of disrespect to the Crown. If he ordered a public solemnity on his own